Insert From File and BIM 360

When we're working on a BIM 360 hosted project there are times we'd like to use the Insert From File > Insert Views tool. Unfortunately BIM 360 isn't an available path in the Insert From File dialog.

Yes, we can download a copy of the project or open both projects and use Copy/Paste but it would be nicer to be able to use the tool itself as it is an easier/faster (more obvious) process.

Resizable Dialogs in Revit 2019 - Not Noteblock Schedules

Hey! When you were making more dialog boxes re-sizable you missed one! It's really hard to be sure I'm selecting the correct family with this dialog.

If not outright re-sizable, maybe put the Name field at the top and stretch out the list box underneath and make it at least as wide as the dialog?

Copy Monitor - A Different Way?

Morning musing...

It's my observation that there is a prevailing mostly ambivalent attitude toward the Copy/Monitor (C/M) features. I've said before that I think the order of the tabs in the Options dialog are based on the likelihood that we'll use them. Specifically they are listed left to right: Levels, Grids, Columns, Walls and Floors.

C/M isn't hard to use but once it is in play we've got some new rules and warnings to contend with. The process depends on us identifying the elements we want to live in the C/M system. I understand the logic of that choice. Revit asks us to tell it what is important enough to us to engage the system.

Perhaps we need a completely different way to attack the problem? One that doesn't require the advance work. One that is more a reaction to work as it is created and shared, that merely exists.

I wonder if it would be more betterer if we could run a Level or Grid check as a process. The application would compare elements and compile a report, observations and differences. It could be something we read afterward or presented in a dialog for immediate action.

For example, it could just start with: "Hey Steve, there are 27 grids in your model and 30 in theirs. You should look at them." Take it slightly deeper, "Hey Steve, there are three grids that share the same name but are not in the same location."

Does it matter that they used to be in the same location and they aren't now? The application would have to start storing records for past results to do that but it could be useful to determine when or how things got off track. The rules or conditions that are interesting need to be defined.

This sort of element review and comparison doesn't have to be limited to the five that Copy/Monitor were designed for originally (overlooking the MEP elements that have been added in some fashion). It still requires two or more elements though; mine, yours and theirs. The redundancy is annoying but it does provide us with flexibility within our own models.

I imagine much of what I'm describing (and more) is possible via the API and Dynamo. It just needs someone to decide it is an interesting enough thing to do.

Revit Roadmap

Autodesk's Sasha Crotty discussed the big picture for Revit's development at RTC in Porto. Sasha is the current Revit Core Product Manager which means (from her bio) she is responsible for the direction and evolution of Revit's multi-disciplinary tools, performance, and the API.

If you're curious about that you can check out her post HERE.

Revit 2017.1 and Space Naming

While I was on a job site yesterday Autodesk released Revit 2017.1. In the past they've called this release R2. I think 2017.1 is better.

Finally the Space Naming Utility is just Space Naming and built-in. I've been complaining about the illogical segregation of this crucial collaboration tool for a long time. So many engineers I've met didn't even know the tool existed and that's silly. When they get to use 2017.1 it will just be waiting for them on the ribbon, no extra installation for EyeTee or Revit Managers to remember to deploy. Yay!!

As for what features are included with 2017.1 you can check out the Inside the Factory blog post. As usual Luke has shared some very useful links on his What Revit Wants blog.

Trim Multiple and Multi-Select

I find that I consistently forget this is possible, to use a crossing window to select more than one element to trim or extend multiple elements at once. Don't forget Steve! Maybe now that I've written that I'll start remembering more often, hopefully. The following video is just the tooltip video that runs if you hover over Trim Multiple long enough.

Open Sheet - Equal Rights for Panel Schedules

This new right-click choice exists, within the Project Browser, for views that are on sheets. Views that are real that is. Schedules are special views, they can be placed on more than one sheet (like Legends). Electrical Panel Schedules share this distinction but unlike other schedules they are not nearly as likely to require being placed on more than one sheet. Their schedule-ness makes this right click option invalid for them too.

I realize it probably isn't easy or perhaps even possible to segregate this schedule-ness from Panel Schedules but I would have found it very handy to be able to use the Open Sheet concept for them several times today. In this instance it would have been faster than navigating through a very long list of sheets. I suppose it is also possible that some firms do need to be able to put Panel Schedules on more than one sheet, in which case...bummer for me and my wish...

Revit 2017 - Space Naming Utility Update - It is Available Now

The other day I poked Autodesk about this feature. As it turns out it is deployed slightly more automatically. The catch is that the latest iteration of Autodesk Desktop Application (I'm going to call it AdA) must be used to see these updates.

My first problem was that AdA wasn't working. It just displayed a blank white screen. I also noticed that there was no Autodesk (A icon) in the system tray for an active service. Eventually I used the wisdom of The IT Crowd; turned it off and on again. That restarted the service and AdA started working, displaying information.

The second problem was there were no updates to choose from. I logged out of A360 and closed its system tray instance. I also logged out of A360 via Revit, since I had it open. I closed the instance of AdA in the system tray too. I had a browser open looking at my Manage portal. I thought that maybe my access settings were wrong. I logged out and closed the browser too. Then I logged back into A360 and launched AdA...voila, updates appeared. It made no difference earlier that I used the right-click Check for New Updates option for AdA in the system tray repeatedly.

Once I got it working again this appeared in AdA.

This a tiny bit better.

People will still have to pay attention to be alerted to download and install it. If they don't have enough control over their computer they'll still have to get EyeTee involved. I'll have to see if I notice more people have it installed in the coming months.

Once it has been downloaded and installed you don't have to rely on AdA to pass it along to others in the office though. You can just capture the downloaded installation file from the location defined when you downloaded and installed it the first time (C:\Autodesk by default).

It is also a bit tedious that every one of the updates is a separate installation; must be run and completed before starting another. If you attempt to run them while another is running you'll run into messages about something already being in process.

By the way, when you run Revit after installing all the available updates you may be greeted by "Security - Unsigned Add-in" warnings. Nice...

I've got my Space Naming Utility! Do you? I hope so!

...and thanks to Paul Aubin for the heads up!

Space Naming Utility for Revit 2017

Hi Autodesk Revit Team! It's me Mr. OpEd again. Imagine me with a pointy stick, I'm poking you in the eye...metaphorically...with words on a blog.

Since the AutoCAD team just made 2017 available I can infer that we'll be seeing a new release of Revit in the very near future.

Let me just go on record now.

The Space Naming Utility SHOULD be built into Revit 2017 so that it is installed automatically or better yet, it's just on the Annotation ribbon as a native feature, NOT an add-on.

I might as well let ya'll know now, and AGAIN, that it is utterly reeeeee-freeeeeekin-diculousssss if it isn't!!!!!

If the rationale for keeping it separate is that not many people use it perhaps that's because it is a separate application??!! If the ribbon UI is supposed to improve the odds of discovering features it sure would help to be ON the ribbon. Built IN.

Capisce? The berating will continue until the SNU is part of Revit. I know there are much more important things in the world to be upset about. Yet, someone must continue the fight for equal status of the SNU!

If I take a pessimistic stance, you could, at the very least, make sure it is available for download from the Exchange Apps site as soon as we can actually download and use Revit 2017. Yeah. That would be good...

Worksharing Display - Owners

The first thing I do when a project is open, to get a sense of things going on around me in the model, is to toggle on Worksharing Display - Owners (see image). That gives me a quick snapshot of who else is working on things around me.

If I see a color on anything I thought I'd start working on then there is no point attempting to edit those, I'll just get a warning from Revit in response. The mere presence of colors indicate other people are around, in this context. Hovering over one element brings up a larger tool tip than the usual information we get, including which person is currently editing it.

I use the Worksets option for Worksharing Display just to see if things are obviously assigned incorrectly. Again, hovering over any element tells me what workset it is assigned to in either the normal tool tip (first thing displayed, unless Design Options are involved too) or the expanded one for Worksharing Display.

I think most people forget about or overlook the Gray inactive worksets option too. That helps me cope with my nemesis Active Workset because it reminds me which workset is active because the things around me are either bold or not (see image).

Prompted by a reply to a thread at RFO.

Feature Request - Tell me Link Files Have Changed

Working with a group of people today several echoed a request I've heard quite a few times over the years. They'd like Revit to let us know when a linked file (Revit/DWG) has changed so they know to use Reload to see the changes. The precedent for this idea is...yeah AutoCAD.

I suspect that it might negatively affect the user experience when Revit pauses to check for changes, assuming it can't be done as a background process (or multi-threaded). In that case I'd prefer Revit stay nimble and leave it up to me to decide when to check for changes. If it could be done without harming performance then I'd welcome it too.

Something for under the Xmas tree...

Options Bar - Common Overlooked Options

The Options Bar is a part of the Revit user interface that is important but easily overlooked too. You can read through these selected examples but the moral of my story is "pay attention to the Options Bar".

Also keep in mind that, in general, it is possible to take advantage of the SHIFT and/or CTRL keys to interact with different Options. For example, when the Copy option is present, holding down CTRL will toggle Copy off. When using the Move or Copy tool holding SHIFT down will toggle on the Constrain option to limit motion to X or Y directions only.

For example, using the Mirror Tool the default option is to create a copy of the selected elements as well as mirroring them so the originals stay in place. Do you want Mirror/move instead? Uncheck Copy (or press/hold CTRL).

A similar option exists for the Offset tool.

Using the Move tool people routinely overlook the Multiple option. It makes it easy to continue copying the element(s) to more locations. Press hold SHIFT and Constrain is toggled on.

A similar option exists for the Align Tool. Press/hold CTRL and it toggles on Multiple Alignment.

Using the Rotate tool? It is also possible to copy the selected element during the rotation...just check the Options Bar.

When people use the Array tool they often also create the parametric relationship between the array elements, which is cool but often not necessary. Uncheck the Group and Associate option first.

Using the Split tool we often overlook the Delete Inner Segment option. Using the option makes it easier to split/trim walls to other walls.

When we place columns it is easy to overlook the option that determines whether the column is placed based on Depth or Height. That's a common cause for columns that don't show up when we place them and the annoying error message telling us we can't see them.

Using the Roof tool we can decide whether each sketch segment should be sloped or not, just remember to un-check the Defines Slope option.

Using the Room tool it is easy to forget that we can choose to place any rooms that have not been placed already...from the Options Bar naturally.

When applying dimensions don't forget that we can decide which part of walls Revit should prefer to make it easier to place them.

Have a favorite forgotten option?

Type Catalog - Just say NO to Load Into Project

If you are working on a family that uses a type catalog then these two buttons are bad!

Bad buttons!

Youz buttons are buttons non grata.

The same is true for the Edit Family button and right-click Edit Family option. Don't use them on families that use a Type Catalog because all the types that are in use get loaded into the version of the family that opens in the Family Editor. That's kind of counter productive.

Ribbon Panel Titles are Missing

The ribbon User Interface will let us turn off the ribbon's panel titles. I've never bothered to do this and today I was asked why a user's ribbon was missing them. I blanked...uh, um, graphics driver issue? While I was trying to make my brain work, he decided to right-click and saw this...

Add another troubleshooting saying to add to our collection, "When in doubt right click"!

Hiding Columns in Schedules

We can hide a column if necessary. Hopefully that's not a surprise. Each field in a schedule has a parameter called Hidden Field, available when we are looking at the Formatting tab in the Schedule Properties dialog.

We can also right click on a column while editing a schedule, in a schedule view, and choose Hide Column.

We can use right click to Unhide All Columns but it will reset them all, as the name implies.

If we use this on more than one column and only want to restore one of several we need to return to the schedule properties dialog and the formatting tab to uncheck the Hidden Field parameter.

Phase and Poche Materials

As you're likely to know already Revit provides a feature to change the appearance of elements to distinguish between phases of work. When you examine the Materials dialog the "Phase-X" materials were created by the development team and they exist to support the way that feature is intended to work. The templates are configured (OoTB) to automatically "work" if you use the phase features.

When I visit the 2014 Architectural template I find three "rogue" phase materials in the dialog (image above). The four highlighted in yellow are assigned to the Phases Graphic Overrides.

I've no idea what these three other materials are assigned to. When I examine the Materials dialog and the icon for "asset use" (highlighted with the red circle in the first image in this post) the four "good" materials report that the associated asset is shared with 8 materials. The three rogue ones are not using an asset shared with any other materials. Easy enough, I deleted them. Revit will let you delete any of the phase related materials even though the Phase feature is technically relying on them to work as intended out of the box.

In general nobody will use the materials for anything else, not really suited for anything else. They "work" as intended and are preset so they do. The only real interaction anyone needs to have with any of these materials is if something about how they look isn't quite what we want. If we don't think demo elements should be red we can change the material to use something else or increase or decrease the transparency for example.

The other material highlighted in yellow is the poche material (pronounced Poe-shay). It's also a feature that was originally tied to the graphic display of the model when Coarse Detail Level is in effect. However they've made the Poche material assignment a Type Property of 3D views.

You have to assign a material to have it take effect. In the past Poche was hardwired to the effect. Now you can technically use any material in the library instead. Poche isn't required itself to work anymore. Here's an example of it being used on the section through a pavilion model.

Revit MEP 2014 - Reapply Type

This button snuck past me in my reading about what's new. I don't see anything at all about it in the What's New documentation at the WikiHelp pages at Autodesk either.

Originally I was preparing for my What's New session at RTC (happening right now!) and while I was working through various tasks I noticed the button and thought, "Hey I don't remember that in 2013!"

Well my memory isn't that good anymore apparently because it IS in 2013 too.

I don't see it in the What's New for 2013 though and I didn't find it in 2012. Perhaps I am sort of correct (a little?) that it is new, or at least undocumented? I guess this fits into "What's old is new again"? I left a mention of it in my What's New class handout even though it isn't new to 2014.

If you haven't noticed it then let me explain.

Imagine you've placed a lot of duct and then change the related duct system settings about which fittings should be used. Nothing will happen to the existing duct. The Reapply Type button will take whatever duct you select and REAPPLY your recent changes (to the type) to your selection. Once a duct is placed it more or less remains inert unless another duct it trimmed or extended into it, touches it. When the duct is harrassed by another Revit will start to refer to the settings to determine what fittings to use.

Here's to "new" old features!

Grids Generator Extension

While I seem to be in whine mode this week I might as well suggest that the long standing grids generator extension get full Revit status. I think it could live on the ribbon alongside the Levels and Grids tool on the Datum panel. It might actually get used more if it were part of application and where's the harm in that??

Again, like the Space Naming Utility, awareness is the issue. People just don't know it exists. Instead of "hiding" it away on Autodesk Exchange put it in Revit! By the time they find out about it they've already put their grids in. If it was on the ribbon poking you in the eye when you look for grids and levels to begin with you might be more inclined to remember to use it. Hey, I thought the ribbon was better for discovering tools than the old fuddy duddy menu and toolbars approach? :)

Press and Drag

The Autodesk blog "Inside the Factory" is asking about the Press and Drag option. Using this software for as long as I have I'm quite unhappy when the option is off. Maybe it's minor or strange, and to some irksome or even dangerous, but I'm very used to and happy to use it. So far the comments on their post seem to be running in favor of removing or "blunting" it somehow. According to one comment, I'm nuts for using or liking it.

The only time I get frustrated with it is with linked files. Revit's odd preference for "seeing" and therefore selecting linked elements over the native elements is something that ought to be fixed instead. Removing the Press and Drag feature should not come as a result of other issues.

I find it interesting that people who normally count clicks are "happy" to add more clicks for this item. I use press and drag for so many things, dimensions, text, tags, equipment, duct/pipe runs, walls, doors/windows, viewports on sheets, practically everything at some point. When things need to be precise it isn't the correct approach but so much of what we do during design and documentation can be adjusted more readily with it on.

My vote is leave "my" Press and Drag alone.

If people don't want to use it, that's what the check box is for and it can be preset to "off" via the Revit.ini file already. Don't like it, don't use it, please don't make my choice for me.

Model Review - Check for Mirror Casework and Furniture

This post is dedicated to a practical example of using the new tool for Revit called Model Review. This tool is part of the Subscription Advantage Pack that became available recently. As it happens this tool was acquired by Autodesk from Avatech Solutions a few months ago for a tidy sum. I'm sorry to admit that I didn't spend a lot of time getting comfortable with it before the purchase. I thought I'd make up for ignoring it by focusing on a specific problem it can help solve. I should also mention that Beau Turner recently wrote a few nice articles about the tool on his blog "Will Render for Food".

The problem: Users are mirroring casework and furniture elements and some of those items are not supposed to be mirrored because they have very specific manufacturer codes. A left-handed version has a different code than a right-handed version so mirroring will create a right-handed version that looks like a left-handed version. Tracking this situation down isn't easy the way Revit is on its own.

Enter Model Review: (it was called BIM Review before). We can create our own review criteria that will check the model for mirrored components. This is a default condition that exists in the Model Review configuration and it is easy to use in your own Check file. Rather than spending a lot of time itemizing the process in text here the video will cover that. I've posted the example file so it can be downloaded if you are interested in reverse engineering it. Technically you can just reverse engineer the existing templates...that's what I did.